Image source 12 Facts about slavery in Jamaica the education system refuses to teach in schools(Atlanta Black Star 17 October 2014, accessed 13 April 2023)
The story of the Robertsons in Jamaica starts with three brothers - James, Peter and Duncan - the sons of Robert Robertson (possibly born 1718) and Janet Guild/Goold (possibly born 1720), and some of their sons. See the link for the full details of their families.
The ones who had a connection to Jamaica are shown in bold:
The English captured Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655, and imported many slaves from Africa to work on sugar, coffee, cotton and indigo plantations. According to many reports, most of the black slaves 'lived short and often brutal lives with no rights, being the property of a small-planter class'. Many slaves ran away to join the Maroons (former Spanish slaves). A large slave rebellion known as Tacky's War broke out in 1760 but was defeated by the British.
Although various Irish and Scottish had been initially forcibly been taken as convicts or indendured servants to Jamaica from the 1600s, by the mid-1700s, the Jamaican economy entered a period of sustained growth and fortunes were being made. By 1774, '.. the Scottish represented a large percentage of Jamaica's population. Jamaica had gained a reputation for being a place to earn a quick fortune, and the Scottish belief at the time was that the surest way to wealth in Jamaica, was to enter the island with a profession. ... Scotland had a high standard of education. The law required every parish to have a school, and families who could not afford the fees received financial help from the local authorities. As a result of this focus on education, many Scots became qualified for professions at a time when the Scottish economy could not support all these professionals. So, many embarked to the colonies to apply their skills with the hope of making a quick fortune. (Source: The Arrival of Scottish Settlers in Jamaica, on the Jamaica Timeline website, accessed 4 June 2025).
By the early 1800s, black people/slaves were said to outnumber white people in Jamaica by 20 to 1. The British abolished the slave trade in 1807 but not the institution and slaves continued to be traded.
For reference, as these terms are used in the registers:
The St Elizabeth area of south west Jamaica where most of the Robertsons lived
Duncan Robertson (born 1756, the youngest son of Robert Robertson and Janet (nee) Guild, became a medical practitioner in Scotland.
According to the account written by Duncan's son James Peter Robertson (born 1822) in the book 'Personal Adventures and Anecdotes of an Old Officer', published in 1906, Duncan Robertson '... was educated for the medical profession and settled for many years in Jamaica where he practised as a physician, and as a member of Council got the title 'Honourable', eventually becoming the owner of a very fine estate there called Friendship'.
Duncan Robertson is believed to have arrived in Jamaica by 1780. On 30 November 1787 and recorded as a 'surgeon', Duncan married the widow Ann Finlason (nee Luttman) (also of St Elizabeth). Ann was previously married to Thomas Finlason, a Jamaican planter (from 23 August 1774). It is not known (yet) if Thomas and Ann had had any children. Ann owned the 'Friendship' estate in the St Elizabeth area of Jamaica with her brother. Duncan acquired half the estate through his marriage to Ann and apparently bought out the other half from Ann's brother.
According to his son James' account, 'In his old age he (Duncan) married a second wife [sic - it was actually his bride's second marriage, which the account then confirms] who was quite a young girl, a Miss Lutman. During her husband's last illness [referring to *Miss* Lutman], my father, Dr Robertson, attended him professionally; and he made the very extraordinary request to my father that he would, after a reasonable period, marry the young widow, who had no relations living on the island [sic - he then goes on to refer to her brother, unless he wasn't actually living there]. This he did, and became owner of part of Friendship; the other half he purchased from Mr Lutman, his wife's brother; and the whole estate thus become his property'. James' account continues '... after many years of happiness, Mrs Robertson died, and some time after my father returned to Scotland ...'. See below from 1819.
Note that the name 'Luttman' appears again below - it seems Duncan's nephew, also Duncan, decided to name one of his (mixed) sons Duncan Luttman Robertson. Is it possible that Ann Henegan, Duncan junior's later partner and a mulatto, was connected with Duncan senior's estate?
The 'Red Book of Scotland' states that Duncan was appointed to the Legislative Council in Jamaica and that his Jamaican estate was located in St Elizabeth, West Jamaica. Duncan returned to Scotland in 1819 - see below. (Source: 'Red Book of Scotland' by Gordon MacGregor)
A second conflict known as the Second Maroon War broke out from 1795 to 1796.
According to James's book, Duncan Robertson (born 1756), when '... out in the Maroon War in Jamaica ... had a narrow escape of his life. He was shaving one morning in the open air, having hung up a little glass against a tree, when one of the enemy fired a poisoned arrow at him, cutting his chin open. Knowing the deadly nature of the wound, he, with his razor, cut the piece clean out on the spot, and thereby saved his life. The mark of the wound is clearly to be seen in his portrait, painted by Sr Henry Raeburn, which hangs in my dining-room.'
John Robertson (1771 - 1818), the son of Peter Robertson and Janet (nee) Adamson), arrived in Jamaica before 1796 when he was recorded as an ensign in the local militia, the St Elizabeth's Foot Regiment. (Source: The Jamaica Almanacs via Peter Durbin.)
John Robertson was trained as a medical practitioner and became a planter in Jamaica. He owned the Belmont/Bellemont estate in the St Elizabeth area of Jamaica. He also 'patented' a coffee plantation in 1800 - see details below relating to his brother Archibald. John may have had a relationship with a woman with the first name Anne around 1804 - see below.
John Robertson (born 1771) acquired Bellemont as early as December 1799. (Source: Papers presented to the House of Commons on the 7th May 1804 Respecting the Slave Trade; &c. This report shows the number of slaves on properties in St Elizabeth parish as at 17 December 1799. John Robertson is shown as proprietor at the time of Belmont, a property with 22 slaves.) By 1811, there were 123 'enslaved people'. John was recorded as the owner of Bellemont until his death on 21 September 1818.
Archibald Robertson was the youngest child of Peter Robertson and his wife Janet (nee Adamson) and the brother of John Robertson (1771 - 1818). Archibald moved to Jamaica in the early 1800s. It is not known if he travelled there with his brother John.
Very little is known about Archibald's life in Jamaica. He signed a slave register on 12 September 1817, stating that he owned eight slaves in Manchester Parish. He owned a coffee plantation called 'Dunsinane' (or 'Duncinnan') in the May Day Hills southwest of Mandeville in Manchester parish. The following is the text of the advertisement placed in the Jamaica Royal Gazette after his death:
FOR SALE, DUNCINNAN Coffee-Plantation situated in May-Day Mountains, Parish of Manchester, the property of the late Dr Archibald Robertson, patented in 1800 by Dr John Robertson for 300 Acres. There are on the property a comforable Dwelling-House, Barbicues, Mill &c. Also from 15 to 20 Acres of excellent old COFFEE. The Land in all that District is of a very superior quality for the Culture of that Article. With the Property will be sold 10 well-disposed and able NEGROES, accustomed to work thereon. Application to be made as above to the Subscriber. D Robertson, sole Excr
(Source: Advertisement in the Jamaica Royal Gazette (Vol. XLII from Saturday, December 16, to Saturday, December 23, 1820, No. 52 Supplement, placed by Archibald's cousin Duncan Robertson of Gilnock Hall (1781-1850)).
For the details of his will, see the entry for 1820 below.
Duncan Robertson (1781 - 1850) was the third son of James and Isabella Robertson (nee Graham/Grahame). His father James Robertson, a Minister, had settled in Callander, Scotland. Perhaps encouraged by his namesake uncle or his cousin John Robertson (born 1771) who was also already in Jamaica, Duncan is believed to have arrived in Jamaica by around 1801 ('in his early 20s' - it was said he had lived in Jamaica for 'nearly fifty years' when he died in 1850).
Duncan's younger brother, Alexander Robertson (1 September 1783, Callander - 1854, Callander), appears to have also lived in or had property in Jamaica - see below in 1829 for references to the property known as 'Struan Estate' owned jointly by the brothers; Alexander was recorded as an 'absentee owner' and noted to be in Callander in 1837.
Duncan Robertson was an attorney and acted in that role for both his uncle's property Friendship and his cousin John's property Belmont/Bellemont - and (it is said) possibly later inherited them.
Duncan Robertson was first married to a Bridget Daly (1813- 1831) but before their marriage he maintained a long-standing relationship with a 'free mulatto' woman Ann Henegan with whom he had several children - see below from 1806.
Caroline Swaby (1785 - 1874) was the daughter of Joseph James Swaby, custos of St Elizabeth and his wife Ann Badioli (of Italian parentage, born in London). Caroline married Thomas Plummer of St Elizabeth in 1801. The marriage was noted ni The Gloucester Journal of 1 February 1802. They had a son named Swaby Plummer, born on 2 December 1802. Swaby graduated as a medical doctor from Edinburgh University and died in Paris in January 1823. (Source: Peter Durbin)
Unfortunately for Caroline, Thomas died in 1803. He was buried on 7 August 1803 at New River (Source: Saint Elizabeth, Copy Register, Baptisms Marriages Burials, Vol. 1, p. 342, via Peter Durbin)
John Robertson (1771 - 1818) married the widow Caroline Plummer (nee Swaby) by licence on 3 January 1804. (Source: Saint Elizabeth, Copy Register, Baptisms Marriages Burials, Vol. 1, p. 310.)
Extract from the 'Baptisms of White Children in 1806', showing two children born at New River to John Robertson and 'Anne his wife'
John and Caroline Robertson (erroneously stated in the register to be 'Anne his wife') had the following children. There is an obvious connection here for the first two with Duncan Robertson of Friendship, John's uncle. Based on the baptism of their children Janet and Mary in Scotland, it would appear that they travelled to Kilmadock, Scotland around 1809 and again by 1817 (a year before John died). The connection with Kilmadock is not yet known. As can be seen, all of the children except Joseph James Robertson moved to England.
Note that John Robertson died on 21 September 1818, leaving his (now twice widowed) wife Caroline (who may have been pregnant with Isabella at the time) with some very young children.
Duncan Robertson ('junior')(1781 - 1850) had several children with Ann Henegan. Ann was described in the registers as a 'free mulatto' and later as a 'free person of colour'.
Who was Ann Henegan?
It is not yet clear who Ann Henegan was. She may be somehow connected with (or be the daughter of) Matthew Henegan, likely a white man, and an unknown African woman.
According to 'Jax B' on a Rootschat thread, Ann Henegan gave birth to a son in 1800 with a David Morrice.
From 1806 to 1826 - children born to Duncan Robertson and Ann Henegan
Baptism of Caroline Robertson in 1806 (Source: FindMyPast)
The register of 'baptism of children and adults, not white, in 1806' records the baptism of a Caroline Robertson, born in July 1805, the 'reputed daughter of Dr Duncan Robertson junr by Ann Henegan'. Two lines down in the register, Ann Henegan is also recorded as being baptised on the same day. She is described as 'about 25 years of age' and 'a free mulatto'.
(For reference - A woman named Caroline Robertson, quite possibly the first child of Duncan and Ann, married a Scotsman called John Ballantine at the Relief Chapel, Anderston, Glasgow, Scotland on 27 April 1843. John Ballantine wrote from Glasgow to his sister in Edinburgh in a letter dated 20 December 1842 that he had 'at last got entangled in love's meshes' and that his 'seducer' was 'the daughter of the Hon D Robertson, one of the legislature of Jamaica by virtue of which office he inherited the title of 'Honourable'.' If this was indeed Duncan and Ann's daughter, the intriguing question arises of course how she came to be in Glasgow at that time. (Source: Peter Durbin))
Baptism of Robertson children in 1813 (Source: FindMyPast)
The 1813 baptism register notes in the 'persons not white' section the following additional 'reputed children' of Dr Duncan Robertson (junior) and Ann Henegan:
Baptism of Robertson children in 1819 (Source: FindMyPast)
The 1819 baptism register records two more children to Duncan and Ann Henegan, described this time as 'a free person of colour'.
Interestingly, directly under the baptism record of Isabella and Jane is the name 'Ann Robertson', a mulatto slave who was baptised on the same day, without any parents listed. Could this be a relative?
Duncan and Ann may have had another child, Elizabeth Robertson.
Ann Henegan appears to have been an independent woman in her own right. According to the same Rootschat discussion noted above, (a) Ann Henegan was in possession of three female slaves in 1817; the slave return is signed with a cross and countersigned by Dr Robertson; (b) Duncan Robertson had another child with Ann Henegan - Elizabeth Robertson, baptised on 20 August 1826 in St Elizabeth, Cornwall, Jamaica.
Duncan Robertson was recorded in the Jamaica Almanac in 1811 at Eden Mount, owning 32 slaves and 12 stock. He was again listed in the Almanac in 1812, 1818, 1821, 1825, and again in 1830 at Gilnock owning 81 slaves and 184 stock.
Ann (nee Luttman) Robertson, the wife of John and Duncan Robertson's uncle, Duncan Robertson, died at Friendship in July 1813 and was buried there on 20 July 1813.
After Ann's death, Duncan Robertson junior (born 1781) inherited or took over the 'Friendship' estate.
After the death of his wife Ann (nee Luttman) in Jamaica, Duncan Robertson (senior) returned to Scotland, registered his intention to marry (banns) Susan Susan Anne Jane Stewart on 15 November 1817 in Dull, Perthshire, then married Susan on 23 November 1818 at Fincastle, Perthshire, Scotland (Source: The Morning Post, The Scots Magazine, The Perth Courier, and The Edinburgh Magazine and Literary Miscellany). Susan was the daughter of Captain (later Colonel) Robert Stewart, junior, of Fincastle.
Duncan Robertson 'of Roehill, Perthshire', acquired the property that became known as Carronvale in 1819. According to the Carronvale House website, 'Dr Robertson planted trees, laid out a new drive and built a Lodge. He also added two wings to the old house and lined the rooms with mahogany grown on his Jamaican Estate.
The following (slightly edited) details about Duncan Robertson, dated October 2011, was found on the website: http://memento-mori-scotland.blogspot.fr/2011/10/robertson-family.html. Permission to use this material has not yet been received.
Dr. Duncan Robertson is documented to have purchased, for just under two thousand pounds, the seventy acre Broomage Estate at Larbert. The estate had an existing six bedroomed mansion house which he extended by adding a lodge and two wings and re-named ‘Carronvale’ (as it was likely on or near the Carron River). Much of the interior was furnished with mahogany which is said to have been sourced from his plantation in Jamaica.
Duncan and Susan Robertson had three children, all believed to have been born in Edinburgh:
A brother of Duncan Robertson, Alexander Robertson (1783 - 1854), was noted in Jamaica on 28 September 1817 when he swore to the accuracy of a slave register submitted by him. It is not know how long he remained in Jamaica.
John Robertson (born 1771), the son of Peter and Janet Robertson (nee Adamson), died on 21 September 1818 at Newington, Edinburgh. At the time of his death he was noted as residing at Gartincaber in the country of Perth. For reference, there is a 'John Robertson Burial Ground' in Greyfriars graveyard in Edinburgh where his father Peter Robertson is interred.
The Morning Post of 29 September 1818, noting his death, described John Robertson as 'of Bellemont, St Elizabeth, Jamaica, many years a medical practitioner on that island'.
The following is the text of John Robertson's will, made on 16 May 1818:CC8/8/149 John Robertson of Bellemont in the parish of St Elizabeth, Jamaica. Residing at Garlincaber in the county of Perth. Executors: John Chambers of Northampton Estate, St Elizabeth; William Aldam of Warminster Estate, St Elizabeth; Duncan Robertson of Friendship Estate, Jamaica (at present in Great Britain); Joseph Lawes Swaby of Montpelier (at present in Great Britain); James Robertson, writer, 2 Heriot Row, Edinburgh (cousin); and Caroline Robertson (wife).
Inventory
£1000 sterling in deposit by the British Linen Company, £75000 sterling in deposit receipt by Sir William Forbes and Company, £167 12s 3d balance of account current with the branch of the Bank of Scotland at Stirling. A debt due from Major E. M.Pherson of the 79th regiment.
Will
Executors to be trustees for whole property.
Payment of just debts, sickbed and funeral expenses. £200 per year to wife Caroline Robertson. Should she wish to live again in Jamaica she shall be able to occupy my house in Bellemont and use all household furniture within it. £500 to her in order to purchase furniture which shall remain her absolute property.
My mother Janet Robertson to be allowed possession rent-free throughout her lifetime the second flat at number 10 Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh, which belonged to my father and which has been occupied by her since his death.
My father sold to Sir John McLean, Lieut. Col. of the 27th regiment of foot, the lease of the farms of Gaskenloan and Dalwhinnie in Inverness-shire which he had obtained from the Commissioners of the Forfeited Estates. £90 per annum still due from Sir John McLean for the remainder of this lease, which I allow my mother to draw for the rest of her life. If she survives after the end of the lease then my trustees to pay her £50 per annum for the rest of her life.
The residue of the whole proceeds, rents and profits of my estate real and personal estate to be spent by my trustees to pay towards the clothing, maintenance and education of my beloved children Ann, Joseph James, John, Janet, Peter, Eliza, Caroline and Mary Margaret Adlam and any other children which I may leave at the time of my death until they reach the age of 21 or at marriage. The surplus each year to be invested in stock in the three percent consols as an accumulating fund to be added to the capital. My estate to be shared between my children equally as tenants in common and not as joint tenants.
Should my children all die before age 21 then my property to be divided one third to my wife, one third to my sister Jessy Mitchell [possibly his older sister Janet], wife of William Mitchell of Gorden Hall, North Britain, the final third to my brother Archibald Robertson of Dunsinane at present in the parish of St Elizabeth, Jamaica.
Executors and trustees to also be guardians of my children.
Codicil adds £100 annuity to wife Caroline Robertson in addition to that already allocated and £1000 to buy a suitable house for her.
Source of the above information: John Robertson of Bellemont', Legacies of British Slavery database (accessed 2 April 2023)
Archibald Robertson (date of birth not known) was the son of Peter Robertson and his wife Janet (nee Adamson). As noted above, he moved to Jamaica in the early 1800s and died on 11 September 1820. His will provide some clues to his life:
The sources of the above information (all via Peter Durbin) are:
In 1823, Belmont/Bellemont estate, formerly owned by John Robertson, was recorded as being in the possession of John's cousin Duncan Robertson (of Gilnock Hall). The property remained 'registered to John Robertson (deceased) as late as 1839.
The 68 year old Duncan Robertson (born 1756) died in Edinburgh on 12 February 1824. He was buried at Larbert churchyard.
On the death of their father, Duncan Stewart Robertson (aged 5) inherited Carronvale whilst the 2 year old James Peter Robertson inherited another estate, 'Roehill', located in Perthshire.
In 1829, Duncan Robertson (1781 - 1850) was recorded as the joint owner of 'Struan Castle' along with Alexander Robertson. Alexander is believed to be Alexander Robertson, the son of James and Isabell Robertson (nee Grahame) (born 1 September 1783, baptised 5 September 1783, Callander (BDM Record) - 1854, Callander (BDM Record)), recorded as an absentee owner when awarded compensation of £657 5s 10d first for 40 slaves, then a received further compensation for 54 slaves on the Struan Castle estate. In Pigot's 1837 National Commercial Directory Alexander Robertson was recorded at East Mains, Callander; in 1851 Alexander Robertson aged 64 [sic] was living at 32 East Mains Callander with his brother James (born 1780) and was described as 'proprietor in Jamaica'. Alexander inherited £1000 under the will of his brother Henry Robertson of Mansfield Callander, proved 21/10/1854.
A three-month old 'quadroon' named Duncan Daniel Rose was baptised in Cashew, in the Parish of Saint Elizabeth, in the County or Cornwall, Jamaica on 28 March 1830 to Ann Robertson. The father was named as Daniel Rose, and both parents were recorded as 'unmarried'.
For the child to be a quadroon, one of the parents would need to be white and the other mulatto.
It has not been possible yet to definitively connect Ann Robertson with other members of the Robertson families living in Jamaica at the time.
It is believed that Daniel Rose may have been born around 1806, was living in Hanover (Jamaica) in 1817, and died on 1 April 1882 in Williams Field, Saint James, Jamaica. There have been suggestions that Daniel's father may have been a man named James Whitehorse Rose from Scotland, and his mother an African slave, but there is no documentary evidence to confirm this. His 'Rose' origins may actually be from a German name - Roose.
Daniel Rose and Ann Robertson may have had at least one more child, a girl named Isabella Rose, born in 1833 in Manchester, Jamaica.
For more information on the Rose family, see this page.
Samuel Sharpe led the largest uprising by enslaved people in 1831. It started out peacefully, with enslaved Africans refusing to work. But things escalated and, in resistance, Africans burnt down houses and warehouses full of sugar cane, causing over 1 million pounds worth of damage. More than 200 plantations in north Jamaica were taken over as more than 20,000 enslaved people seized control of large chunks of land. Many plantations were destroyed. The 'plantocracy class' (which included Duncan Robertson (born 1781) - see below) carried out 'ferocious reprisals'.
Continued racial discrimation and marginalisation of the black majority led to the Morant Bay rebellion in 1865 which was put down by the Governor 'with such brutality that he was recalled from his position'. (Source: Wikipedia article on Jamaica)
As noted above, Duncan Robertson had had a relationship with a 'free mulatto' named Ann Henegan for a long period and from that relationship six or seven children were born up to around 1820.
Duncan Robertson married Bridget Daly on 8 January 1831 at Derry plantation in Manchester parish. Bridget was the daughter born in Jamaica of a prominent attorney, James Daly of Black River. Unfortunately for Duncan, Bridget died at Friendship (which Duncan's uncle appears to have left by 1819) on 23 October 1831 aged 18.
Duncan married again in 1834 - see below.
During his time in Jamaica, Duncan Robertson owned or managed four plantations - Gilnock Hall, Belmont, Friendship and New Buildings. It is understood that he purchased the last plantation outright. He was also attorney for seven other estates by 1832 'including those of the Fosters and Foster Brhams at Elim and Mesopotamia, and that of John Chambers and Northampton.
Duncan Robertson was also actively involved with the militia in Jamaica. He was the 'Custos' of St Elizabeth and Colonel of the St Elizabeth Regiment of Foot Militia. He was said to have been 'heavily involved' in defeating the Slave Rebellion of 1831-2 and for this was presented with a ceremonial sword now held by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Canada. Sometime later he was a Major General of the Jamaica Militia.
After 1834, Duncan remained at Gilnock Hall.
The fear of more uprisings as well as other factors prompted the British to abolish slavery in Jamaica on 1 August 1834. At that time, the British attempted to make all enslaved Blacks remain working for the same masters as apprentices. The system was a failure, and that also was abolished. Enslaved Blacks received their unrestricted freedom on 1 August 1838.
According to the Atlanta Black Star 'In order to sustain the exploitation of Blacks, an ideology of racism was developed to make the terms African, 'negro' and 'slave' interchangeable. The primary objective of this ideology was to categorize Black Africans, including those on the island, as less than human.'
According to one source:
After the abolition of slavery in Jamaica in 1834 (and the end of the Apprenticeship system in 1838), formerly enslaved people began acquiring land, though the process was difficult due to economic and social barriers imposed by the colonial government and former plantation owners. Many freed Jamaicans pooled their resources to purchase abandoned plantations or smaller plots of land, leading to the rise of free villages and peasant farming communities in the 1840s and 1850s. However, large-scale plantation ownership by black Jamaicans was rare in the immediate post-emancipation period due to limited access to capital, high land prices, and efforts by the planter class to maintain control over agricultural production. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some black and mixed-race Jamaicans who had accumulated wealth through trade, farming, or professional work were able to purchase plantations. However, widespread black ownership of large estates remained limited due to the economic dominance of white and foreign landowners.
As a result of the British government abolition of slavery, slave owners were paid compensation based on claims received. Duncan Robertson of Gilnock Hall and his brother the Reverend Peter Robertson, Minister at Callander, submitted a claim for £3517 2s 7d relating to the 'Friendship' estate, with 184 enslaved individuals.
Duncan Robertson married Elizabeth Frances Smith, the 19-year-old daughter of Edward Smith on 21 June 1834. According to the Jamaica Almanac 1838, Duncan was reported having 70 apprentices.
Duncan and Elizabeth Robertson had the following children, including one born in Scotland, suggesting a trip back during this time.
The two sons of Alexander Robertson (16th Chief of the Clan, died 1830) and his wife Jean (or Cecilia nee Stewart), the half sister of Susan Ann Stewart who married Duncan Robertson (1756 - 1824) in 1818) were in Jamaica by 1839.
According to James Peter Robertson, writing after 1841 (see below), his father Duncan (born 1756) brought these two young 'when they were young men' to Jamaica. Duncan Robertson (born 1756) had returned to Scotland by 1817. He married Susan Ann Stewart, the half-sister of Jean Stewart (the mother of the two boys above) on 23 November 1818. Jean and her husband Alexander and their two boys may have attended the wedding; it seems more likely that Duncan encouraged them to 'make their fortune' in Jamaica, and they may have decided to do just that after the death of their father in 1830. Or - perhaps - Duncan took the boys to Jamaica before he left there, which seems unlikely. James may be confusing these two boys with his own first cousins who were almost certainly taken by their uncle to Jamaica.
Robert Joseph Robertson (born 1807) married Jane Eliza Chambers (1813 - 1868) in February 1839. Jane was described by James Peter Robertson, when he visited Jamaica in around 1841/1842 (see below), as 'black wife' of his cousin. Jane was the daughter of John Thomas Chambers and an unknown woman; John Thomas Chambers was the one of two children of John Chambers (1764 - 1831), the proprietor of Northampton pen, a Jamaican livestock farm in St Elizabeth parish) and Jane Garrang (1768 - 1832), his mulatto housekeeper.
Robert's slightly older brother, Alexander Gilbert Robertson (born 1806), who had become the 19th Chief of the Donnachaidh clan when his father died in 1830, probably attended the wedding.
A child named George Duncan Robertson was born on 28 March 1838 and baptised on 8 November 1840 in St Elizabeth. No parents are listed but his abode is shown as Fincastle which suggests the boy was the son of Robert Joseph Robertson and an unnamed woman or of Robert and Jane (nee Chambers) Robertson before they were married.
Robert Joseph Robertson and his wife Jane (nee Chambers) had one son:
Exactly when James Peter Robertson (born 1822) visited Jamaica is not known. He refers to emancipation (in 1834) but he was only 12 at that time; given other events described in the book, it seems more likely he visited in his late teens or early 20's, perhaps around 1841/42.
James Peter Robertson claimed in his memoirs that a William Morris, a former West India merchant, was keen to return to Jamaica 'to look after his own interests', and decided to take Robertson with him. Robertson noted in his book that the slaves were well-treated before the slave trade ended and were actually doing quite well after empancipation, but the 'proprietors' (despite being paid 'compensation') were actually in a worse situation because the former slaves no longer wanted to work. Eventually, he said, 'the owners of the land were actually starving and in many instances were forced to abandon their estates.
According to his memoirs, James 'stayed the greater part of my time in Jamaica with my cousin, the Honourable Duncan Robertson of Gilnock Hall'. It is worth noting that there was an age gap of 41 years between the two cousins.
The memoirs state that his cousin's '... so-called slaves had taken their emancipation, but things went on exactly in the same manner as previously: house-servants, coachmen, grooms and the whole establishment, continued on precisely the same footing.' He added that 'I moved about the island a great deal'. He narrated the following story:
Having gone with a young friend to travel on business, we arrived at a sugar estate near Savanna-le-Mar, some two miles from the town, on the second night out. There we found an old gentleman in charge, who was bigger in his complaint that his splendid fields of sugar-cane were rotting in the ground and being devourced by th negroes' pigs, the negroes themselves refusing to do a stroke of work. There was a cartload of sugar-cane standing at the mill, and I proposed, half in fun, that we should grind it ourselves. Off we started, set the mill going, and I began to stuff the canes into the rollers. We had no sooner began than out came the negroes from their settlement, stopped the mill, and ordered us back to the house, where we did go, after some lively passages and strong words between the old gentleman and the negroes.
Robertson then noted that '... the whole village turned out, men and women, some with axes, some with cutlasses or clubs'. In response, a Mr Smith brought out a brace of pistols and another gun (for himself). After threats of being shot, the workers retreated back to their homes. After he went to bed, he stated that a 'black face, with a large knife in its mouth, appeared for an instant' in the dark but was driven off.
Robertson stated that he then went to stay '... at my own place, Friendship, and found the old housekeeper who had been there in my father's time'. He noted that '... the factor in charge of the estate was a cousin of my own, a Robertson, and he and his elder brother had been taken to Jamaica when young men by my father. The younger brother remained as factor of Friendship, married a black wife, and had a flourishing family. His brother settled at Kingston and remained a bachelor'.
There has been a degree of uncertainty about the identity of the cousin and his bachelor elder brother in James' book. For reference, at the time of Peter's visit (assumed to be around 1841):
The two 'cousins' James is referring to were Alexander Gilbert Robertson (1806 - 1884) and his younger brother Robert Joseph Robertson (1807 - 1861), half cousins to James' mother Susan Ann Jane Stewart; James was only 16 years older than both men when he met them in Jamaica but it appears that some of his comments about them (see below) may have been written some time after his visit to Jamaica.
Alexander Gilbert Robertson (1806 - 1884), then 19th Chief of the Donnachaidh clan, was not married when James visited. He did not marry until 1863, so James described him as an 'old bachelor'. The cousin with the 'black wife' and a flourishing family was Robert Joseph Robertson and his wife Jane Eliza (nee Chambers), noted above, although he only had a small family in 1841/1842.
James Peter Robertson noted that then Chief of the Robertson/Donnachaidh clan (George Duncan Robertson, the 18th Chief) wanted to sell part of the ancestral property but '... needed to get the permission of the two next heirs (as he had no family himself) to the chieftanship, and it was ascertained, by going back a good many generations that the legal heirs were my two cousins in Jamaica. With their permission (they receiving a small sum as compensation) he sold part of the estate.'
This happened again, this time for the sale of the entire estate but, before the sale went through, the (18th) Chief died (in 1864) and James' bachelor cousin in Kingston (Alexander Gilbert Robertson, born 1806)) 'succeeded to the title and estates' but at the time had no heirs at the time. James noted 'Here was a comically sad state of things. The prospective chief of the Robertsons (his nephew) was a delightful black man' ... '. The 'delightful black man' is believed to be Robert Joseph Stewart Robertson (1839 - 1880) who, by 1863, had married and had a son also named Robert Joseph Stewart Robertson (1863 - 1926).
However, the chief (Alexander Gilbert Robertson (born 1806) married in 1863 and had a family [actually one son, Alasdair Stewart Robertson (1863 - 1910)], and so the black man's nose was put out of joint.'
However, as it turned out, Alexander Gilbert Robertson's son Alasdair Stewart Robertson, the 20th Chief, died in 1910 and he was succeeded by Robert Joseph Stewart Robertson (born 1863) to 1926, a succession that does not seem to be recognised by the Donnachaid Clan.
George Duncan Robertson (1867 - 1949) was the 21st chief from 1926 until 1949. He married Lilian Margaret Ramson on 10 November 1896. Their son Langton George Haldane Duncan Robertson (1898 - 1983) became the 22nd Chief. Langton Robertson married Laurie Constance Lindo on 1 July 1927 and their son, Alexander Gilbert Haldane Robertson became the 23th Chief (current as at 26 June 2025).
The Clan Donnachaidh Society page shows details of this succession.
After his visit to Jamaica, James Peter Robertson returned to Scotland and attended Edinburgh Military Academy where he studied military drawing and surveying. Whilst at Edinburgh he received a commission and was gazetted to the 31st Regiment in 1842. See the Scotland page for further information.
Duncan Robertson (born 1781, the son of the Rev James Robertson) died in Jamaica on 9 May 1850 and was buried in the burial ground at Gilnock Hall, St Elizabeth the following day (Saint Elizabeth, Copy Register, Baptisms Marriages Burials, Vol. 4, page 528, entry 33.). (Source: Peter Durbin). A memorial to him in Black River church reads as follows:
The Hon. DUNCAN ROBERTSON, Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council in this island, Major General of Militia and Custos Rotulorum of this parish...having been 24 years Custos, 20 years Major General and 13 years Member of Council. As Custos, he was remarkable for firmness of purpose, decision of character and ready attention to parochial duties. As General of Militia the essential service he rendered his country in assisting to quell the rebellion of 1831 will long be remembered. As Member of the Privy Council he fearlessly and conscientiously discharged the duties of that office during a series of years when legislation was rendered peculiarly difficult and trying...d 9 May 1850, leaving a widow and five sons, aged 69 years 6 months. Erected by the inhabitants of the parish."
The property at Belmont (said to be situated about 2,000 feet above sea level, near Malvern in the Santa Cruz Mountains) remained in the Robertson family until around 1875 as a coffee plantation, later abandoned for cattle raising and pimento growing. Up until the early 1960s there was still an old marble tomb at Belmont Estate which had the inscription, "Caroline Robertson. Born 11th October, 1785. Died 7th April, 1874." - Caroline was the wife of Duncan's cousin John - see below.
Some of the text on this page was taken from the website 'Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery', accessed in April 2023, or the Atlanta Black Star article noted under the photo above, except where indicated.
Civil registration in Jamaica – the official registering of births, marriages and deaths by the state – only started in 1878, and was enforced from 1880, covering the entire population. A central office, called the Registrar General’s Department (RGD), was established in Spanish Town in 1879. Registration is carried out through a network of Local District Registrars (LDRs), responsible for their own districts and for submitting copies of their records to the RGD. Records before the period of civil registration in Jamaica – i.e. before 1878 – are not comprehensive or complete. The International Genealogical Index, or IGI, is a hotchpotch of different sources, which is one reason why some individual births or baptisms appear twice within it, and why some records are very detailed transcriptions while others are quite basic index entries. (Source: FindMyPast website)
Page created 4 April 2023, updated 1 July 2025. Copyright Andrew Warland. (andrewwarland(at)gmail.com)